April 2022 Newsletter
Chairman’s Corner
New Members
I would like to welcome new member, Stephen Murphy.
The Big Wet
When I wrote last month that the club had suffered only minor damage with the heavy rain, we were unaware of partial washaway of the foundations of the concrete water tank and adjacent retaining wall. Also, the sinkhole near the north-east corner of Green 3 is worse than first thought. We are arranging for a structural engineer to provide advice.
The Bar
The cold room has had an update with some new safety equipment and beer lines. We are using an improved chemical to clean the beer lines.
I can confidently now say the: “The beers are better at Brian’s Bar.”
COVID
While regulations have eased a great deal, we would ask the members to be alert to symptoms and have a Rapid Antigen Test if they are in any doubt before returning to the Club.
Club Shirts
The order for new shirts has arrived thanks to Garry Lowder’s efforts. Information about these can be found elsewhere in this newsletter.
Social Selections
Our Social Selectors do a remarkable job when they put together the games. They consider the ability of players to make the games as equal as they can, put players in positions they are best suited and try to ensure players have different opponents and teammates from recent games. These decisions must be made and recorded in the computer in less than 45 minutes. No easy task.
To make their life easier, members, when ringing in, should not ask for special favours, such as playing with particular people or type of game unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Vale Warwick Carpenter
Warwick was a long-time member of the Roseville Bowling Club who ceased bowling a few years before the amalgamation with LBC. Warwick served as Greens Director for many years and was renowned for his wide-ranging sense of humour. He passed away earlier this month aged 89.
Roger Parks
Chairman
From the Ladies President
Despite the crazy weather over the past month, we have managed to fit in a few notable events.
We were excited to hold our (belated) 2021 Women’s Pairs Championship for the first time in a few years, after pandemic and wet weather delays. Ronny Vilensky and Berri Maraney came out the winners over very worthy runners up, Marlene Black and Lee Gardiner. Congratulations to Ronny & Berri.
Women’s Pairs Winners
Ronny Vilensky & Berri Maraney
Women’s Pairs Runners-Up
Marlene Black & Lee Gardiner
One team participated in the Summer Carnival at Belrose with the ladies having a very enjoyable day.
We also had a team consisting of Marianne Coningsby, Berri Maraney, Ronny Vilensky & Trish Boyle enter the Turramurra Carnival. They all played very well and enjoyed their day being narrowly defeated on a countback for 2nd place. Well done ladies.
Our new members from Killara also entered a team in the Seaforth carnival under their Killara membership and finished winners on the day! The team was made of Louise, Ngoc, Julie and Anne. Congratulations to these ladies.
A fun day was had on Easter Saturday after such a long period of wet weather, with many bowlers responding to the sunshine and easter goodies. Thank you to the LRBC Social Committee for organising the Spider and Easter treats.
Lorraine Forster
Women’s President
A word from the Editor
In 1953 novelist Neville Shute published a novel called “In the Wet”, which opens in the northern outback of Queensland during the wet season. It is many years since I read the book but I still recall the oppressive humidity, the lingering dampness, the mould and the sense of gloom and quiet desperation that pervades Shute’s powerful evocation of the wet season in northern Australia.
Sound familiar? Lindfield is not in north Queensland but it sure has felt like it recently, has it not? As I write the sun is shining, the sky is blue and I get a sense that perhaps, just perhaps, we are beginning to emerge from the Long Big Wet. So, let’s make the most of the coming drier days and get our delayed competitions moving ahead.
I have been asked to remind everyone that when playing social bowls, it is club policy that special requests for team make-up or pairing cannot normally be accommodated. The selectors do their best to give all of us as good a game as possible. That can be a difficult task but to allow it to happen, everyone must be prepared to play with different people of different playing ability on different days. The only circumstances where that policy can be relaxed a bit is in the lead up to competitions, where teams intending to play in those competitions can play together as part of their preparation for the upcoming challenge.
Some of our bowlers have been finding a full game of social bowls to be a bit of a stretch but are keen to continue playing as much as they can. As a result, several people are seeking to play just a half game. The club is happy to assist as far as possible, although this can make it difficult to juggle numbers. The Bowls Committee has examined the available options and has decided that the only practical way to meet this need is as follows:
Those wishing to play just half a game should phone in between 10.00 and 10.45am, as usual, notifying the selector of their wish for an abbreviated game. They then should call back after 11.00am to see whether the selectors have been able to fit them into a viable game.
And please remember, we are now ONLY using the mobile number (0482 533 088) for game bookings, as the landline continues to be faulty and messages left on that service cannot be retrieved.
Happy bowling to all.
Garry Lowder
newsletter@lindfieldrollers.com.au
What’s been happening?
On April 12th some 16 of our men bowlers enjoyed another lunch together, this time at the Great Northern Hotel in Artarmon. The food was cheap and cheerful, the fellowship was excellent and a good time was had by all. Our thanks to Garth Aston for once again making this happen.
Neil Gosbell represented our club in the Zone Champion of Club Champions competition at Belrose but unfortunately was eliminated after the first round.
We had entered a side in the St Ives Tapner Tournament Jacobs Creek Invitational event on Thursday, 24 February but this event was washed out. This event has now been rescheduled for Monday, 16 May. The knock-on effect of this is that we have now rescheduled our Super-Six-Sets Carnival for Friday, 24 June. To make the Super-Six Carnival successful we will need to spread the word more effectively than in the past, with the goal of filling all three greens.
We had two teams play in the much-delayed 2021 Zone Reserve Triples. Willie Mok, Ian Kimmorley and Phil Lewis were eliminated after the second round whilst our other team of Rob Duthie, Ian Holden and Paul Goodwin made it through to the semi-final before being defeated.
At the completion of the Mid Week Challenge our C2 side ended up in the middle of the field whilst our C1 side finished equal first in their section, tying with Mosman. Due to an obscure quirk regarding countbacks in the Conditions of Play, Mosman went on to the play-offs.
We had teams play in the Seafood at Seaforth carnival and also the West Pymble Kookaburra carnival.
Easter Saturday saw 62 bowlers turn up at the club for a game of bowls in the warm sunshine.
Easter Saturday at LRBC
Competitions - Progress with all our club competitions has been impacted by the wet weather but hopefully we will be able to catch up shortly. The Consistency Singles is at the final stage with Barrie Jones set to play Kuzma Petkovic for the championship. The Minor Singles competition is now at the semi-final stage. Meanwhile, the Club Triples competition has commenced.
Uniforms
At long last, our order of new bowls shirts has arrived (on a slow boat from China!). We now have an adequate supply of all sizes in both short and long sleeve versions. So, if you have been waiting to purchase a shirt or are due a free shirt as a new member, please see me (Garry Lowder) on a bowls day and I will assist.
Looking ahead …
Entry forms for both the Men’s and Women’s Major Pairs competitions have been posted on the noticeboard. Entries are scheduled to close on 7 May. The Pairs competitions must be completed after 1 July.
The Men’s Pennant Competition for this year is due to start in August. We expect to enter two sides in this competition. A new grading system is being implemented this season as follows:-
* The old Grade 1 remains as Grade 1
* The old Grades 2 & 3 become Grade 2
* The old Grades 4 & 5 become Grade 3
* The old Grades 6 & 7 become Grade 4
Just what we end up with in terms of Grades entered will be decided by the representative selectors in the near future.
There will be a separate Women’s Pennant competition to be held around the same time as the Men’s competition. An Open Gender Pennant competition will be held in the first half of 2023.
A Morality Tale
I What is the coolest line in history?
During the Nazi occupation of Paris, Pablo Picasso was taken to be "interrogated" by a special branch of Gestapo that had been set up to handle intellectuals and artists.
The officer who confronted Picasso, in spite of being a Gestapo thug, was almost polite, spoke a good French and seemed even educated. A rarity.
The Nazi policeman gestured Picasso to sit in front of his desk, then he produced a photo of the now world famous "Guernica", the large painting that depicts Picasso's take on the Nazi bombing of the Spanish town of the same name during the Spanish Civil War.
With that facial expression that at the same time betrays tolerance toward a recognized genius and anger for a misdeed of the same genius, the Nazi pointed at the photo and said with a harsh voice:
"Picasso! Did you do this?"
The reply of Picasso was worthy of a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer and an Oscar…
Said he: "No, you did it! I only painted it."
A Smile on Your Dial
v The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine last week is now fully recovered.
v When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.
v The other day I rang Telstra to complain about a nuisance caller but when I got on to the Operator she said: ''Not you again''.
v Two aerials met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony was rubbish but the reception was brilliant.
An old man, living on his own in Belfast, wanted to plant some potatoes in his garden but was too frail to dig it over himself and his only son was in Long Kesh Prison. So he wrote to his son seeking some suggestions. The son wrote back very promptly, saying: “For Heaven’s sake Dad, don’t dig up the back garden. That’s where I buried the guns!”
At 4.00am the next morning a dozen British soldiers turned up at the old man’s place and dug over the entire back garden. But they didn’t find any guns.
Feeling very confused, the old man wrote again to his son, telling him what happened and asking what to do next.
His son’s reply was: “Just go ahead and plant your potatoes!”
Till next time …
